Quote from: Greentongue;841541Helps.

In the published EPT rules there is a focus on "Saturday Night Specials".
Was this something that was added as part of the publishing or was it actually how the game was played?

If the play, What was the first SNS you remember?
(Not testing your memory so much as getting a feel for "entry level" SNS.)

What was the best/most memorial SNS?
=

Both, in my experience. With both Greyhawk and Blackmoor, one had a much better feel / grasp for the world setting as it was pretty much based in the currently-known genre of fantasy literature. EPT / Tekumel, on the other hand, was a cultural terra incognita, and so pretty much everything was the equivalent of the D&D SNS. EPT didn't cover half the stuff we found in the first years of the campaign - and as we discovered it, it made it into the published literature, either in the "Dragon", "The Tekumel Journal", or my own 'zines. I still think that EPT is the best entry level Tekumel RPG, myself.

I think - and I'd have to check my notes, that the first SNS for me, was the South Pole military base of the Ancients.

The very best SNS? For me, hands down, the tubeway car system. Nobody knew it existed until somebody stepped on one of the glowing floor tiles and summoned the car to the station...

Quote from: AsenRG;841542The prestige weapons were once a sign of a professional warrior who can train most of the day. It gets muddy when people with hereditary rights start wearing them for the status without the skill to back the claim up...
I'd expect those people who provoked you were like that?
And kudos to the Professor for the adequate reaction of the NPCs, those morons were endangering the whole clan!

Which is not to say they couldn't pay those assassin clans you keep in good terms with, after thanking you...though the presence and approval of the princes likely worked against that outcome.

I was nodding the whole time reading about the courts, but the ending threw me off. Aren't there forced labour camps, or punishment battalions? Why go straight to the capital punishment?

What kind of crime would make assassin clans working for free? I need to use that in my current campaign;)!

I was thinking about this process, if someone gets an outsourced job and does well with it...what are the odds of getting initiated in the clan on the basis of talent? Assuming there wouldn't be conflict of loyalties, of course. But then a fresh barbarian PC who just arrived to a port of the Empire wouldn't have a clan, so it's perfect!

Well, obviously both can work, then, and wouldn't matter too much. Guess I don't need to add specific rules, though I still might do that for fun;).

Glad to hear I've got that right. Well, it clears this a lot.

Why wouldn't  I think of them? They're the assassins, in more than one way! And they sure had enough techniques, armed or unarmed.
I'd guess you used the ninja mini because of availability:D. Besides, what do you use for an Ismaili assassin, a man dressed like a menial worke or servant,r with a hidden dagger?
Sure they had night operations, but to the best of my knowledge, no specific dress.
(Not that historical ninja actually dressed in black, but that's going offtopic now).

Indeed it's harder, which is why I used this option for the example;).

1. Yes; noble twits with swords were always a pain to have to deal with. The professionals, on the other hand, were always much more reasonable.

2. Tsolyani society is based on 'favors'; I always stayed on the good side of the assassins by being in a position to help them. As a result, they tended to stay on *my* good side as well, and we helped each other out.

3. The court system is simply not interested in anything like the sort of crimes that we think of; the Imperium is only really interested in major crimes like treason, tax evasion, espionage, and breaches of the Great Concordat. Pretty much by definition, getting convicted of any of these will mean a trip to the stake, as one is thus simply too dangerous / stupid to let live. Valuable political prisoners get Ruby-Eyed and dropped into a block of cement, but that's about the only time the Imperium keeps people in prison.

The vast majority of what we'd consider 'crime' is dealt with at much lower and informal level - the clans and temples. Say you had your money pouch stolen in the market place; if you didn't see it happen, and raised a hue and cry, you'd tell the Market Police and offer a reward. The Market Police - a section of the City Guard - would round up a selection of the Usual Suspects, and give them a hard time until the thief was identified. The thief would then be made to return your pouch, you would hand the Market Police a nice reward and be on your way, and the thief would then get the living daylights beaten out of them back at the police station. The police would also confiscate any valuables that the thief had in their possession, and these would be returned to any known owners for the reward.

Similarly, say you are a merchant in the market place and you see a kid stealing some fruit from you. You'd raise a hue and cry, the locals would chase the kid down and bring them back to you; if you knew the kid's clan, you'd march the little rascal off to his clan house where you'd get an apology and some 'shamptla', money in payment for your trouble. You'd thank the clan elders and be on your way; the kid would then get a thrashing from the clan elders and the parents, and be made to work off the penalty by doing something nasty like cleaning out the stables for a week.

In neither case would the Imperium get involved; it's not their business to do so, so neither is a 'capital crime'.

4. There was a case where a wealthy widow was defrauded of her personal funds by her clan. She had no real recourse in the courts, as she wasn't what we call an 'Aridani' woman - who have a lot more rights under the law. Some of her friends mentioned it to the assasssins' clans, who undertook to obtain satisfaction for her as an example of what we call 'noble action'. She got her property back, and the offending clan had to pay shamtla to her as well. She offered a percentage to the assassins' clans to cover their costs, but they would only accept a single gold coin to show that they were doing it as noble people, not as hirelings.

5. Yes, exactly! PCs 'fresh off the boat' are assumed to be outside the society, and thus very useful as retainers and such to do things like this. And they usually need the money, too!

6. I now have all my assassins - see Dark Fable Miniatures' website!

Quote from: chirine ba kal;8416015. Yes, exactly! PCs 'fresh off the boat' are assumed to be outside the society, and thus very useful as retainers and such to do things like this. And they usually need the money, too!

With the classic "fresh of the boat" start, what support does a player character have?
Is there assumed to be an "outpost" of their clan in all major cities like Jakalla?
Must they have a patron to have any "standing"?
Can they bluff a status? (in Their land they are ...)

For example, would the Market Police be concerned with their victimization by others?
=

Quote from: chirine ba kal;8416016. I now have all my assassins - see Dark Fable Miniatures' website!

Which figures are the assassins?

Quote from: chirine ba kal;841594...were right up front about trying to do their best to 'break' the world, which was a play style in vogue in certain quarters back then...

It was Bill Keyes who said he played in a break the system style for Runequest. He published a supplement called Runemasters that was very helpful in pointing out useful group tactics and ways for characters to magically push the system in RQ2. Players like Bill are really helpful if you want to truly play test your rules.

Quote from: Greentongue;841662For example, would the Market Police be concerned with their victimization by others?

I suspect that would depend on how money anyone thinks they are going to lose if foreigners fresh off the boat get swindled, cheated, or stolen from. Such was often the fate on earth of new immigrants and nobody cared all that much except them and their relatives. I recall one story from my grandfather about getting tricked or swindled after he got of the boat. Émigrés frequently have family or friends of family that help them adapt to the new country. I'd imagine something similar often happens in Tekumel.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;841594Agreed, in my experience as well.

No, they were not; they occasionally cooperated, but that was usually in the face of utter extinction. They were all individualists, first and foremost, and they gave Phil a pretty bad time - they were right up front about trying to do their best to 'break' the world, which was a play style in vogue in certain quarters back then...

"It's a living world out there. Push it, and it pushes back!"
Quoted from my pre-campaign speech to new players.

Still, how exactly did it look at the table? Say one of them wants to play a scene where he secretly screws over another's business investment. No guarantee it will succeed, so they must play it out. The other one can easily opt out if he knows.
Do Phil and him leave the table to play it out, or go on the honour system? What does everyone else do during this time?
My own solution is to create a scene with another PC and assign NPC roles to the players, but I kinda doubt it would work with those guys.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;841597Let me try to explain this; it's going to be a little complicated, so please bear with me...

In EPT I'm a Priest; I'm in the middle of the spectrum, as it were. Warriors don't use magic, and normally can fight better then I can; Magic-users don't normally fight in melees, but can do spells better then I can.

The class system in EPT was a result of Gary Gygax's input on the play-test version of the game. His take on PCs was that having classes was an easy way for beginning players to get their PCs rolled up and into a game, as the rules would set out what the player had to work with for that particular class.

On the other hand, the skills system in EPT was Dave Arneson's input. He felt that players should be able to 'build' their PCs, and then one would be able to simplify the game mechanics by rolling against their skill levels.

Phil, on the other other hand, didn't feel that either approach really fitted in with what he'd had in mind. He liked the idea of an 'occupational' system that was a 'hybrid' of both, where a 'class' could have a range of skills that were normal for that 'job description'.

Very interesting!
Do you mean Phil would have liked something like Honour and Intrigue's Careers? With or without Traveller-like lifepath character generation? Or am I just projecting what I've been thinking today on MAR Barker?

Quote'Warriors' are pretty straightforward; they are people who fight things, and with various weapons in various types of armor. Generally, they do not use magic; when they do, it's with the technic devices of the Ancients. 'Magic users', on the other hand, are much more complex; in Tekumel, they are all associated with a particular Temple, and all have ranks as priests / priestesses of that temple. Generally, they are adept at various types of sorcery, and are normally unarmored and carry daggers and other such small weapons.

EPT's 'Priest' class, on the other hand, are a hybrid character type that falls in between these two main types. They can wear armor, usually use maces and other such weapons, and have various different functions in the temple.

S&G did all of this differently; there are no 'classes' in those rules it's all skill based.

I am, as far as I know, unique in that I'm the only PC who was a military sorcerer - by definition, I think I'm a 'referee's special'...

And now, we venture into much deeper waters...

If I may, I'd like to diagram the 'priest' types:

All Priests:

Administrator Priests - very often not magic-users
Warrior Priests - temple guards, often not magic-users
Scholar Priests - may often be magic-users (Magic-user, in EPT)
Sorcerer Priests - always magic users (ditto)
Military Priests - extreme specialists; always magic users, and the best ones

Right. Glad to see things that actually make sense when examined!
(Seriously, that was becoming a rare occurrence lately. The last time things clicked to this extent for me was when playtesting the Price of Power supplement for the Fates Worse Than Death RPG).

QuoteI am a ranking Military Priest of one of the war god temples. I have a very different set of skills and abilities then most magic-users, having concentrated on the big battlefield magics. I do have a minor spell corpora, but it's pretty limited. on an individual scale of things, I am a very decent warrior; I come into my own on the battlefield, where I am a pretty powerful asset for a general to use.

Doesn't that also make your destruction a pretty valuable victory for any opposing general? Like Baron ald?
And have you ever been sent on a diplomatic mission? Possibly as a hint of possible repercussions?

QuoteAs for the mechanics, in EPT Phil usually reached for a set of miniatures rules ("Missum", "Legions of the Petal Throne" or my own "Qadardalikoi") to rum by big spells; otherwise, it was straight EPT.

EPT does indeed have a lot of strong points as a ruleset, but the quest for improvement is eternal!

QuoteIn the later "Swords and Glory", however, as well as in the new "Bethorm", things are a lot easier as these rules are all skills based - you can create anything, and run it pretty easliy. I had my own spell corpora in "S&G", the 'M series' (m for military) beyond the T for Temple series of spells.

The more we talk, the more tempted I am to buy S&G, too. If only it had legal PDF versions!

QuoteI was, in Phil's campaign, unique. John Tiehen wrote the book on me - literally! - with his "Art of Tactical Sorcery".

Must be nice.
One of my GMs mentioned that the definition for " overpowered opposition " is "the things that an Asen's PC can't destroy in two combat rounds". You seemed to be in a similar position!

QuoteDoes this help?

As always, yes.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;8416011. Yes; noble twits with swords were always a pain to have to deal with. The professionals, on the other hand, were always much more reasonable.

2. Tsolyani society is based on 'favors'; I always stayed on the good side of the assassins by being in a position to help them. As a result, they tended to stay on *my* good side as well, and we helped each other out.

3. The court system is simply not interested in anything like the sort of crimes that we think of; the Imperium is only really interested in major crimes like treason, tax evasion, espionage, and breaches of the Great Concordat. Pretty much by definition, getting convicted of any of these will mean a trip to the stake, as one is thus simply too dangerous / stupid to let live. Valuable political prisoners get Ruby-Eyed and dropped into a block of cement, but that's about the only time the Imperium keeps people in prison.

The vast majority of what we'd consider 'crime' is dealt with at much lower and informal level - the clans and temples. Say you had your money pouch stolen in the market place; if you didn't see it happen, and raised a hue and cry, you'd tell the Market Police and offer a reward. The Market Police - a section of the City Guard - would round up a selection of the Usual Suspects, and give them a hard time until the thief was identified. The thief would then be made to return your pouch, you would hand the Market Police a nice reward and be on your way, and the thief would then get the living daylights beaten out of them back at the police station. The police would also confiscate any valuables that the thief had in their possession, and these would be returned to any known owners for the reward.

Similarly, say you are a merchant in the market place and you see a kid stealing some fruit from you. You'd raise a hue and cry, the locals would chase the kid down and bring them back to you; if you knew the kid's clan, you'd march the little rascal off to his clan house where you'd get an apology and some 'shamptla', money in payment for your trouble. You'd thank the clan elders and be on your way; the kid would then get a thrashing from the clan elders and the parents, and be made to work off the penalty by doing something nasty like cleaning out the stables for a week.

In neither case would the Imperium get involved; it's not their business to do so, so neither is a 'capital crime'.

4. There was a case where a wealthy widow was defrauded of her personal funds by her clan. She had no real recourse in the courts, as she wasn't what we call an 'Aridani' woman - who have a lot more rights under the law. Some of her friends mentioned it to the assasssins' clans, who undertook to obtain satisfaction for her as an example of what we call 'noble action'. She got her property back, and the offending clan had to pay shamtla to her as well. She offered a percentage to the assassins' clans to cover their costs, but they would only accept a single gold coin to show that they were doing it as noble people, not as hirelings.

5. Yes, exactly! PCs 'fresh off the boat' are assumed to be outside the society, and thus very useful as retainers and such to do things like this. And they usually need the money, too!

6. I now have all my assassins - see Dark Fable Miniatures' website!

1. As it should be.
2. Sounds like a good long term plan!
3. I wonder how common is this state of affairs in judicial matters across the Five? Going by history, I can see it in any place but YK, possibly with different punishments.
4. Did it gain them respect? A concession from another clan?
5. Indeed. And they can be strikingly competent at times. You just deny having seen the rest of them while they were alive.
6. I still maintain that nothing beats the servant with a dagger for exact representation!

Quote from: AsenRG;841719Still, how exactly did it look at the table?

Presumably via secret notes, premade plans revealed only to the GM, or taking the GM aside and whispering. So long as that is the SOP for play it isn't especially jarring when stuff like that is initiated by the player instead of the GM. People who did that back in the day usually used pretty hard IC vs. OOC information boundaries.

Most people I know who played that way also played Diplomacy which is all about secret meetings, temporary alliances of convenience, and frequently the well timed backstab. Doing that in D&D or EPT is just carrying the Diplomacy mode of play into an RPG instead of using the more miniatures battles mode of play where everyone in the party is considered to be on the same side in a miniatures battle.

Quote from: AsenRG;841542I was nodding the whole time reading about the courts, but the ending threw me off. Aren't there forced labour camps, or punishment battalions? Why go straight to the capital punishment?.

Until fairly recently, as in, since the 18th or 19th century, that's been the default for many societies.

Look at 13t century England.  Fines and or public ridicule (stocks, pillory) for crimes such as selling short measure.  But a thief was simply hanged.

Fines, mutilation, and capital punishment have been the most common judicial penalties since Hammurabi.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;841598The very best SNS? For me, hands down, the tubeway car system. Nobody knew it existed until somebody stepped on one of the glowing floor tiles and summoned the car to the station...

Oh, sweet Avanthe's breathtakingly perfect breasts, yes.

The VERY best night of Tekumel EVER EVER EVER was the night we hopped into a tubeway car, spun the destination dial, and hit the "Make it So" button.

Quote from: AsenRG;841232Great story! And please tell us of your marriage!
The one in T`ekumel, I mean.

So... no shit, there we were.

(By the way, I was wrong about getting clan membership after winning that ritual battle.  I was not adopted into a clan, though I DID get my first "Gold of Glory.")

It was the siege of Sunraya, which is an ancient Tsauq word meaning "anus of a Chlen beast."

This was a huge siege, and there were a TON of Tsolyani troops there, as well as administration and hangers on.

I was a Molkhar (commander of half a legion) in the Legion of Serqu, Sword of the Empire.  And among the administrative and ritual functionaries was the Lady Nlel, a ritual priestess of the Temple of Karakan, Lord of War of Stability, and my patron diety.

She was also the sister of my General.

SO one hot, sultry night I'm out overseeing some of my lads energetically digging a mine, mostly because it was too damned hot and humid to sleep.  So Lady Nlel, not being able to sleep either, comes out to visit me.

She is wearing a light gauze kilt, and sandals.  Period.

Phil, having taken Hitchcock's point that the imagination is stronger than reality, says only that she is i) very, very lovely and ii) nearly naked.

I was 21 or 22 at the time.

So she reclines on a rock, artlessly striking an incredibly beautiful pose, and starts talking to me.

My character, envisioning his General looking at "One Thousand and One Agonizing Variations on Impalement," is very cautious.

Now, Lady Nlel was NOT an Aridani, one of the independent women of Tsolyanu.  She was what Phil called a "good little clan girl."  For what it's worth, by the bye, that was Phil's invariable description of a Tsolyani woman who was not Aridani... "good little clan girl."

I don't create the news, I merely report it.

Anyway, she start chatting with Mighty Molkar Kornume... small talk, really.  Being paranoid and acutely aware that there is no privacy, I talk about my duty to the Emperor, my duty to my God the Lord Karakan, loyalty to my most exalted General, the nobility of serving the Petal Throne, etc, etc, etc.

To a young woman who is a ritual priestess of the God of War of Stability.  The effect, unknown to me, was like quoting Romeo and Juliet to an overly-romantic seventeen year old girl.

The next morning, my Lord General Serqu returned my salute, but then spoke to me in a much more casual manner than usual, smiling and clapping me on the shoulder.

I was married to his sister shortly thereafter.

It was wonderful because it was so totally unexpected.  I was merely trying to avoid taking improper advantage of a young lady (and subsequent messy and painful death,) and the fact that I well and truly seduced her was entirely unmeant.

Also.

I've spoken about the "End Game" of D&D, where you hit Name Level and got a stronghold, and the game was no longer about wandering through dungeons risking awful and messy death for gold.

Tekumel has its "End Game" too, and once I married the mouthwateringly lovely Nlel, I started playing this end game.

Because not only did I marry the sister of my General... I was adopted into his (rather high) Clan, the Golden Sunburst clan.

Being a member of a high ranking clan changes everything.  For one thing, money ceased to have any meaning.  I would chat with one of my uncles... every male in my clan more than 5 years older than me was my uncle, those about my age were brothers, those more than a few years younger were my nephews...

Anyway, I'd chat with an uncle or two, and they'd either say "That is entirely suitable," or "You have no need of that."  And I'd either get what I wanted or not.

I had no desire to play politics, which is why I was strictly an Imperialist.  But my clan had uses for a young, heroic, and not too bright young general.  My legion would be given orders, and I, as PC, would do the best I could.  But behind the scenes, the assignments I was given and the deeds of renown I did worked to the advantage of my clan.

Also, the Tsolyani clan has a very pre-Enlightenment attitude.... I, as an individual, was far less important than my clan.  My clan would not waste me needlessly, but if there was advantage that somehow could be had for my clan by sacrificing me, I would be sacrificed.

The clan provided me with everything I needed and almost everything I wanted, but on the other hand, my every action was expected to reflect well on the Clan.

And Chrine, my trusted aide de camp, and I got along famously despite the fact that he followed a god of Change and I followed a god of Stability, because we were, politically speaking, both Imperialists -- "I serve the Petal Throne, no matter who occupies it."

Quote from: Old Geezer;841808SO one hot, sultry night I'm out overseeing some of my lads energetically digging a mine, mostly because it was too damned hot and humid to sleep.  So Lady Nlel, not being able to sleep either, comes out to visit me.

What a fun tale.

Quote from: Old Geezer;841799Oh, sweet Avanthe's breathtakingly perfect breasts, yes.

The VERY best night of Tekumel EVER EVER EVER was the night we hopped into a tubeway car, spun the destination dial, and hit the "Make it So" button.

So, for you, a SNS is a special location that provides an unexpected event(s) and not a special opponent/organization?

How common were Ancient Artifacts/Items and how useful?
Are those listed in the EPT rules a small sampling or the "normal things" found?
=

Quote from: Greentongue;841662With the classic "fresh of the boat" start, what support does a player character have?
Is there assumed to be an "outpost" of their clan in all major cities like Jakalla?
Must they have a patron to have any "standing"?
Can they bluff a status? (in Their land they are ...)

For example, would the Market Police be concerned with their victimization by others?
=

Let me take a run at this, if I may...

Generally, the new 'fresh off the boat' types will arrive at the dock with an introduction to somebody who's already there: "What you want to do is go see Cousin Woofel, who moved to Jakalla about five years ago and has made it big - he'll set you up right, don't you worry!" It may not be a clan, it may be Somebody We Know, but one would usually have an introduction of some sort to Somebody.

Once one arrives, then Cousin Woofel finds out what you are good at, and then provides you with further introductions to people that he knows who might be able to find you a position of some sort. For example, the classic gambit is that Woofel introduces you to Lady Mnella, who regularly hires people like you for little jaunts in the Underworld. This gets you a reputation, and references, and further introductions as Lady Mnella introduces you to her friends as a reliable sort of person who can do those odd jobs that need doing. It's all about favors and connections...

And one can get a patron, but it's not vital; patrons are useful if you are looking to get into the higher reaches of society in a hurry, and are often sources of quick cash, but there is usually a trade-off in that they usually want one to do higher-risk things.

Oh, yes, you can always bluff; I've seen it done. However, I do not advise getting caught; you'll get laughed at, at best, and your reputation ruined. The invitations to all the best parties will dry up, and you'll find yourself living in the gutter in pretty short order.

Yes, the Market Police will be concerned if somebody complains and gets them involved; Cousin Woofel finds out you've been fleeced at dice by one of the locals, and he'll usually complain to a friend, who will have a friend slap the cheater around for you. On the other hand, if the police see you getting attacked or something, they will come to your aid at once. They'll deal with the attacker, and politely mention that they are selling tickets to The Annual Market Police Ball. You would then ask about buying a ticket, and you'd also make sure to tip them for thrashing the lout who attacked you. They will then usually offer to keep an eye on you, to make sure you don't get any more trouble from anyone, as they don't want to have any trouble in the city - and if you are alive and well, then they can get the occasional 'consideration' from you - more tickets to the Ball, Noble Lord?

They will not, however, protect you from your own stupidity - if you do something really dumb, like attack somebody in broad daylight, they'll be on you in a moment...

Quote from: Bren;841717Which figures are the assassins?

I suspect that would depend on how money anyone thinks they are going to lose if foreigners fresh off the boat get swindled, cheated, or stolen from. Such was often the fate on earth of new immigrants and nobody cared all that much except them and their relatives. I recall one story from my grandfather about getting tricked or swindled after he got of the boat. Émigrés frequently have family or friends of family that help them adapt to the new country. I'd imagine something similar often happens in Tekumel.

The ones with the knives - seriously! Look at the 'Serving girls with weapons', as well as the specific assassin figures.

Yes, exactly!!!

Quote from: AsenRG;841719Still, how exactly did it look at the table? Say one of them wants to play a scene where he secretly screws over another's business investment. No guarantee it will succeed, so they must play it out. The other one can easily opt out if he knows.
Do Phil and him leave the table to play it out, or go on the honour system? What does everyone else do during this time?
My own solution is to create a scene with another PC and assign NPC roles to the players, but I kinda doubt it would work with those guys.


Very interesting!
Do you mean Phil would have liked something like Honour and Intrigue's Careers? With or without Traveller-like lifepath character generation? Or am I just projecting what I've been thinking today on MAR Barker?


Right. Glad to see things that actually make sense when examined!
(Seriously, that was becoming a rare occurrence lately. The last time things clicked to this extent for me was when playtesting the Price of Power supplement for the Fates Worse Than Death RPG).


Doesn't that also make your destruction a pretty valuable victory for any opposing general? Like Baron ald?
And have you ever been sent on a diplomatic mission? Possibly as a hint of possible repercussions?


EPT does indeed have a lot of strong points as a ruleset, but the quest for improvement is eternal!


The more we talk, the more tempted I am to buy S&G, too. If only it had legal PDF versions!


Must be nice.
One of my GMs mentioned that the definition for " overpowered opposition " is "the things that an Asen's PC can't destroy in two combat rounds". You seemed to be in a similar position!

Two-parter, here.

It was very, very nasty at the table, and it made for very uncomfortable game sessions. One of the guys would announce that he was going to mess with you that session, and dive right into doing so.

I think he would have; he just winged it on the occupational / career paths, as he'd been around enough to do it.

Great - I hoped I could explain it a little better...

Oh, yes, I was a very high-value target! Which is why I hired Vrisa as a body-guard; I wanted to stay alive as long as I could. Later on, my legion assigned six of the toughest troopers we had as my full-time personal body guard, and in battles I normally had two sections (20 to a section) of picked soldiers as a larger guard unit. Due to my command style, which was getting as up-front and personal as possible, they usually wound up in the thick of things as the legion's crack shock troops; after I went through all the other-planar energy available, I'd be heavy infantry and at the point of attack with the reserves. Used to drive the poor Adjutant crazy, sad to say.

Oddly enough, I know Baron Ald personally; we're actually pretty good friends. Vrisa is his clan cousin, the Vishetru clan of Saa Alliqui - the royal family.

Oh, yes, I'd get sent out on diplomatic missions all the time! I was a big lot of intimidation, especially with either Vrisa or my legion (and sometimes both!) in tow. The message being sent was usually "Mess with the Imperium, and Chirine here burns your country down." It made for a lot of fun adventures!!!

Get "Bethorm". It's S&G, all cleaned up, and plays very well.

Yeah, I'd agree - once I take the field, things get very nasty very quickly...